5 Best College Football Bowl Predictions Against The Spread: December 20-24

5 best predictions against the spread for college football’s early bowl games – December 20th through the 24th. Which games appear to be the best bets against the spread?

5 best predictions for college football bowl games – Monday, December 20 through Friday, December 24. What games appear to be the best bets and the best picks?


[mm-video type=playlist id=01f1343a1wt7q817p7 player_id=none image=https://collegefootballnews.com/wp-content/plugins/mm-video/images/playlist-icon.png]

Bowl Game Predictions, Previews 
CFN Experts Picks: Bowls Dec 17-27
Bowl Schedule, Game Previews

Contact/Follow @ColFootballNews & @PeteFiutak

Results So Far ATS: 85-67-2

One massive miscalculation later …

I blame missing EVERYTHING against the spread during an epically bad Saturday on the stress and strain of having to scramble to find ESPN after the YouTube TV/Disney kerfuffle, and …

I can’t blame this multi-billion conglomerates. It was all my fault for totally whiffing on my belief that Conference USA was going to get rim-rocked this bowl season – except, of course, for my pick of Marshall to cover against Louisiana. (It didn’t.)

Picking bowl games takes a different skill set from the regular season. Logic, reason, and normal rules don’t always apply – hello, Jackson State and BYU.

So I’m done with you, Conference USA. You win.

I’m staying away from the against the spread calls of Old Dominion vs Tulsa in the Myrtle Beach Bowl (I like Tulsa -9, of course), UTSA vs San Diego State in Tropical Smoothie Cafe Frisco Bowl (I like SDSU -2.5, of course), and Miami University vs North Texas in the Frisco Football Classic (I like MU, of course).

I always stick with my picks, I take my beating, and then I move on. But there were things that have gone the right was so far.

The point totals went just fine over the first several games, so I’m mostly going with those for these bowls during the week before Christmas.

Pray for me.

Click on each game for the preview 

5. Missouri vs Army: Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl

LINE Army -4
ATS PICK Missouri

Oh, I am well aware that you pick against Army at your own risk.

I’m an adult, I take responsibility for my own actions, and I will almost always take my chances with SEC team over a Group of Five-level team.

Especially if that SEC team is getting points.

Yeah, I’m still smarting from going hard on San Diego State and its amazing defense in the 2017 Armed Forces Bowl – and then Army won.

Yeah, I’m still smarting from going hard on Houston in what should’ve been an easy in in the 2018 Armed Forces Bowl – and then Army won 70-14.

Yeah, I’m still smarting from going hard on West Virginia against the spread in the 2020 Liberty Bowl – and Army lost, but only by three.

Army is 4-1 in its last five bowl games from 2010 on, but there’s a strange part to that. None of the four bowl wins were against Power Five programs, and Army didn’t actually beat West Virginia last year.

In fact, Army hasn’t beaten a Power Five program since the win over Duke in 2017. Before that you have to go back to a 2012 win over Boston College.

I’m fully aware – and love – what Army does, and I know bowls go against what we all believe in our core to be true, but you’re getting points here. You’re not even asking the Power Five team to win big.

4. Hawaii vs Memphis
3. Miami University vs North Texas
2. San Diego State vs UTSA
1. Kent State vs Wyoming
CFN Experts Picks: Bowls Dec 17-27

NEXT: College Football Pick Against The Spread No. 4 Hawaii vs Memphis

5 Best College Football Bowl Predictions Against The Spread: December 17-18

5 best predictions against the spread for college football’s early bowl games – December 17th and 18th. Which games appear to be the best bets against the spread?

5 best predictions for college football bowl games – Friday, December 17 and Saturday, December 18. What games appear to be the best bets and the best picks?


[mm-video type=playlist id=01f1343a1wt7q817p7 player_id=none image=https://collegefootballnews.com/wp-content/plugins/mm-video/images/playlist-icon.png]

Bowl Game Predictions, Previews 
CFN Experts Picks: Bowls Dec 17-27
CFN Experts Picks: NFL 
Bowl Schedule, Game Previews
How Good Is Your Bowl? Ranking all 43

Contact/Follow @ColFootballNews & @PeteFiutak

Results So Far ATS: 84-63-2

Even in the best of times trying to bet on bowl games is tricky – teams get out of their respective regular season grooves. In 2020 it was impossible, and in 2021 it’s forget-about-it tough.

But they’re bowl games. You’re going to bet on them.

Trying to navigate through the opt-outs, coaching changes, and relative interest among the various teams, here are five of the best-looking investment opportunities for the first batch on Friday, December 17th and Saturday, December 18th.

Good luck and godspeed.

Click on each game for the preview

5. Coastal Carolina vs Northern Illinois: Tailgreeter Cure Bowl

LINE Coastal Carolina -11
ATS PICK Northern Illinois

How much do you believe that the regular season could carry over into the bowls? If you think that’s possible, then Northern Illinois shouldn’t have a problem covering this.

Those are a whole lot of points to be giving away to the champion of the MAC. Some might be freaked out by the late-season blowout loss to Western Michigan – NIU already had a spot in the MAC Championship wrapped up.

Northern Illinois is a badly flawed team in a whole lot of ways, and there’s reason to be concerned against an ultra-efficient, high-powered Coastal Carolina squad.

The Huskies don’t do much to pressure the backfield, they give up a whole lot of yards, and they don’t come up with enough takeaways or third down stops.

However, they’re great at dominating the time of possession, and they should be able to counteract what Coastal Carolina does by grinding and grinding some more.

The Chanticleers are more fun, more explosive, and more splashy on both sides of the ball, but they also struggled against mediocre team after mediocre team over the back half of the season.

The best win of the year was against … Kansas? Troy? You have as many wins over 2021 bowl teams as Coastal Carolina does.

That doesn’t mean the Sun Belt star can’t and won’t win this, and there’s a historical reason to think there could be a problem for Northern Illinois. The Huskies haven’t just lost their last six bowl games going back to the 2011 GoDaddy.com against Arkansas State; they’ve been annihilated in most of them.

This Northern Illinois is good at making teams play at its pace.

Now, if Toledo has problems in the Bahamas Bowl early on Friday and if Northern Illinois gets bombed on in this, avoid the MAC fast. But until that happens …

11 is a big number to be giving away here.

CFN Experts Picks: Bowls Dec 17-27

NEXT: College Football Pick Against The Spread No. 4 Oregon State vs Utah State: Jimmy Kimmel Bowl presented by Stifel

Fresno State vs UTEP: PUBG Mobile New Mexico Bowl Prediction, Game Preview

Fresno State vs UTEP: PUBG Mobile New Mexico Bowl prediction, game preview, how to watch, lines, and why each team might or might not win.

Fresno State vs UTEP: PUBG Mobile New Mexico Bowl prediction, game preview, how to watch 


Fresno State vs UTEP: PUBG Mobile New Mexico Bowl How To Watch

Date: Saturday, December 18
Game Time: 2:15 pm ET
Venue: Dreamstyle Stadium, Albuquerque, NM
Network: ESPN, Live stream on ESPN+
Records: Fresno State (9-3), UTEP (7-5)

[mm-video type=playlist id=01f1343a1wt7q817p7 player_id=none image=https://collegefootballnews.com/wp-content/plugins/mm-video/images/playlist-icon.png]

Fresno State vs UTEP PUBG Mobile New Mexico Bowl Preview

You want a bowl game with a team that’s going to care? UTEP hasn’t been to a bowl since 2014, and this is just its second winning season since 2005.

It’s been a wonderful breakthrough year for the program that’s used to being the free-space on everyone’s schedule. It didn’t exactly play a killer slate, but it managed to get through with a solid defense that was great at getting off the field – the Miners finished second in Conference USA in total D – and an offense that hit its deep shots down the field whenever it had the chance.

Fresno State just missed out on playing for the Mountain West title, it was good enough to beat UCLA and San Diego State, and it’s now going through a transition with head coach Kalen DeBoer off coaching the Washington Huskies and with Jeff Tedford coming aboard for next season. Running backs coach Lee Marks will take over the head coaching duties in this.

Fresno State QB Jake Haener was off with DeBoer to Washington, changed his mind, and now he’s back. The talent is there defensively – the Bulldog run defense allowed just 127 yards per game – it’s got a great offensive line and a strong running game, and the attack that led the conference in total yards is going to be dangerous.

Why Fresno State, UTEP Will Win
Prediction, What’s Going To Happen, History
PUBG Mobile New Mexico Bowl Top Players To Know

NEXT: Why Fresno State Will Win, Why UTEP Will Win, PUBG Mobile New Mexico Bowl Prediction